Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' set in a universe of only women at Stage 210

Thursday

Nov 2, 2017 at 3:30 PMNov 20, 2017 at 5:59 PM

By Alexander Stevens Correspondent

When director Bryn Boice rehearses William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” these days, she keeps seeing a 1950s sci-fi movie about a planet ruled by kickass women.

Apparently, that’s what happens when you decide to stage an all-female version of Shakespeare’s cautionary tragedy about a narcissistic ruler whose power-grab motivates a mob of would-be assassins.

“What is ‘Julius Caesar’ like when it’s all women?” asks Boice, whose production of the play runs Nov. 15 to Dec. 17 at Studio 210, in Boston. “That’s the big experiment of rehearsals. We’ve set the play in the future, in an alternative universe, ruled by women.”

Boice knew she didn’t want the female actors to pretend to be men; she wanted to change the gender of the roles. Caesar, Marc Antony, Brutus and the rest are now women.

“I thought, ‘Let’s take that liberty,’ ” says Boice, a Medford resident. “After all, Shakespeare isn’t around anymore,” she adds with a laugh. “His work is in the public domain. Let’s mess around with it.”

Early in the rehearsal process, Boice realized one question would hang over the performances: What happened to all the men? She and the cast needed to find the answer – for themselves, and for the audience.

“We see this world as the result of some kind of a violent confrontation,” she says. “The women outnumbered the men. They enslaved a couple of the men, and they killed the rest.”

That’s fine, but that’s not in the script. (Number of plays written by Shakespeare that take place in an alternative universe: 0.) So Boice and company created a movement piece at the start of the show that suggests the circumstances that brought them to this all-female world.

As Boice discusses her vision for this production, she’s prone to laugh. She seems to have a healthy sense of humor about it all. But, as amusing and as hallucinatory as the premise may sound from time to time, Boice believes this all-female cast is providing an opportunity to mine something important.

For this all-female experiment, ASP has chosen one of Shakespeare’s most masculine plays. There are only two women in “Julius Caesar,” and testosterone seems to drive the action.

In the play, Caesar is a war hero who’s at the height of his powers and popularity. There’s talk of making him a king. A band of conspirators are nervous about the implications of that kind of consolidation of power, and a plot to assassinate Caesar gains momentum.

One of the hallmarks of the play is the way Shakespeare painted it with shades of gray, not black and white. It’s unclear whether Caesar is a menace to this Roman society, or its savior.

But in today’s political climate, it’s tempting to give Caesar a modern twist: Dress him in a big tie and top him off with a “Make Rome Great Again” hat. When the Public Theater in New York staged its version of “Julius Caesar” this summer, it was clear their Caesar was inspired by Donald Trump. The show wasn’t advocating the assassination of the president, but the optics weren’t good. Some key funders pulled their support.

In a video made to support this ASP production, Boice says, “Doing this play this way, now, speaks to our current relationship with our own government.”

But, discussing the play, she resists any temptation to jump on a political bandwagon. Asked if her production is a response to Trump, she says, “Well, this is set in an alternative universe, but I think it will still resonate politically, even though it’s cast with women.”

The idea of gender seems to inspire Boice more than the politics. And she’s discovered that a funny thing happens when you stage an all-female version of “Julius Caesar.” Even accomplished female actors must resist the temptation to play their roles like men.

“We’re all very familiar with the play,” says Boice, “and we have these expectations about how these roles should be played.”

In rehearsal, the actresses are rethinking those expectations. And every now and then, Boice sees a breakthrough. They recently rehearsed the scene in which Brutus (Marya Lowry) eulogizes Caesar (Liz Adams).

“Marya had the instinct to go to the body in a more tender way,” says Boice. “It was as if she wanted to face the corpse she had created. Playing Brutus as a man, her instinct was not to go to the body. Afterwards, Marya said she’s starting to unravel her ideas about playing Brutus as a woman. I think all the actors are in that place now: learning to deliver the new play inside the old play.”